[Barry the Sprout]

Yeah, I don't know much about the Bush side but Blair is not really world leader material from my point of view. He may seem strong but if you actually look at what he says it amounts to very little. It is the hallmark of the third way ideology to never say anything that people can disagree with. For example he might say "We want to live in a cosmopolitian society". Well done, so do most people. But saying it doesn't bring the actuality any closer. New Labour is big on rhetoric that covers them either way but when it comes to policies... They are either nonexistant or simply don't follow what they say. Here are some points to remember about the way Blair runs the government:

1. He has doubled the number of special press advisors in Downing Street.

2. He has told all MPs to stay on message despite the fact that they are constitutionally elected to represent a constituency not a party.

3. He has set up a special war press unit that makes sure the news of how things are going on the front is coorinated not to be released all at the same time. For example they might make sure that news of a bombing raid does not coincide with news of Blair meeting another world leader.

4. An official in the DTI sent an e-mail to her colleages only an hour after the planes hit the buildings saying: "Now might be a good time to release any information we want to bury.".

The government is ridiculously based on press management but is soooooo thin on actually doing anything. Blair only appears to be a world leader because he is undoubtably very skilled at presenting an image. Try and get behind his image and you see he really has nothing to back it up with.

Although I understand this is probably a bit of a joke on Yoricks part. At least, I hope it is...